In today’s episode, I share a presentation from the IISE Seattle conference on May 23, 2022. Joshua Fowler from Romac Industries starts off the presentation by giving some background on the project that I was involved with as the lean consultant, and Michael Johnson from Lean Environment Inc. discusses the technical solutions applied to reduce

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In today’s episode, I interviewed Elisabeth Swan, who has over 30 years of process improvement experience with a great background working for consulting firms like Rath & Strong and Pivotal Resources. She has lots of experience working with nonprofits, government, hospitality, healthcare, entertainment (including work on “Saved by the Bell”), and the for-profit sector. She

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In today’s episode, I interviewed Tracy O’Rourke, who has over 20 years of process improvement experience, working with nonprofits, government, education, military and the for-profit sector. She teaches Lean and Six Sigma at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), is the co-host of the podcast and video series, Just-in-Time Cafe (with Elisabeth Swan), and is

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In today’s episode, I share the interview I had with D.J. Vagnetti, host of the Environmentally Conscious Nation podcast. I don’t think his podcast is still active, otherwise I would recommend listening directly to the episode. This interview assumes that the audience doesn’t know much about process improvement or Lean or Six Sigma, so if

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Today I recapped the last year, and give some insights into my plans for 2022. It’s a shorter episode than usual, so hopefully you have time to listen to it during the holidays.

I recap the past podcast episodes that I released, along with ones I was interviewed on. I also discuss the LeanSixSigmaForGood.com and LeanSixSigmaEnvironment.org website updates, discuss nonprofit volunteer work with Lean Portland, my client work related to environmental reductions and work with nonprofits and not-for-profits, and updates on the book series.

Here are the links I mentioned:

* Lean Six Sigma for Good: Lessons from the Gemba (Volume 2)* Lean Portland Virtual Unconference – Dec 2021* Video of focused nonprofit volunteer projects with Lean Portland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J45ZqxCHEvA* Free PDF download – “Leading Improvements for Social Good,” How Kaizen Event Facilitation Skills can increase your impact in the community and increase opportunities at work: https://www.leansixsigmaforgood.com/facilitation/ * Lean Six Sigma and the Environment course (Free): https://business-performance-improvement.thinkific.com/courses/lean-six-sigma-and-the-environment* Past podcasts of Lean Six Sigma for Good: https://leansixsigmaenvironment.org/index.php/category/podcast/

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Promotions

* FREE online course called “Lean Six Sigma and the Environment”* OpEx Six Sigma Online Training and Certification* Creative Safety Supply – Free 5S Guide

Our guest is Hugh Alley, an experienced lean practitioner and industrial engineer, who has experience with the Toyota Kata method of improvement. He has recently applied this approach to a nonprofit food bank in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada called Loaves and Fishes. This approach was based on the KataLab approach developed for the food bank Moisson Montréal by Jean-Marc Legentil, Marc-Olivier Legentil and Sylvain Landry.

He shares the following information during our interview:

* His background in Industrial Engineering and how he self-taught when he didn’t know how to solve a problem* The four steps of the Toyota Kata approach* Why it should be called Toyota Kata, not just Kata* How to rethink failure as an outcome that wasn’t expected* The confusion about Toyota Kata on how to identify the next experiment* The format for a 2-day KataLab implementation at a food bank:* Day 1 AM – Intro to Toyota Kata training (with puzzle exercise)* Day 1 PM – Discover current condition over a few rounds of exploration* Day 2 AM – 3 rounds of experiments to improve, run process for 30 mins, analyze and reflection time, then setup next experiment* Day 2 PM – Coaching Kata process learning and practice* How they were able to double the output of food produced at the food bank with half the people and half the space* How they were able to use KataLab to reduce lab waiting time by 50% in 13 weeks without spending money or adding people* The 5 core skills that every supervisor and frontline leader should have

If you enjoy this podcast, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. Any ratings you could give us, or shares across social media would be greatly appreciated!

You can watch the full video of the interview here…

Links

* Email: [email protected]* LinkedIn Profile – Hugh Alley* Books Mentioned:* Hugh’s book, Becoming The Supervisor (Productivity Press, June 2020), a story focused on developing the core skills of front line leaders* 5 skills are Instruct, Improve, Set priorities, Foster performance, and Listen* Tiny Habits: https://amzn.to/3CDjxgU* Reinventing the Factory: Productivity Breakthroughs In Manufacturing Today: https://amzn.to/3pYgU5K* The Machine That Changed The World: https://amzn.to/3mCT25K* A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System by Shigeo Shingo: https://amzn.

My good friend Matt Horvat is the founder of Lean Portland, and has extensive experience in process improvement in various industries like Construction, Healthcare, Insurance and Consulting. He discusses why he set up Lean Portland, and shares his first pro bono volunteer projects with a nonprofit in Portland.

We discuss:

* his background in Industrial Engineering and his early work in the construction industry * the importance of daily huddles and management systems * how 3P and the 7 ways exercise helped create a better customer checkout experience that engaged nonprofit staff * how A3 helped setup a lung cancer screening process * his experience working with local nonprofits in Portland * the importance of leader standard work and checklists * a tour he set up to showcase a tiered daily huddle system at a healthcare system * a demonstration of his new software program/app for daily management called Lean Routine, which can be found at https://leanroutine.app/

If you enjoy this podcast, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. Any ratings you could give us, or shares across social media would be greatly appreciated!

You can watch the full video of the interview here…

Links

* Email: [email protected]* LinkedIn Profile – Matt Horvat* Lean Routine App* Summary of Tiered Huddle System Tour* Upcoming Lean Portland Virtual Unconference on Dec 7th* Lean DFW – Inspiration for Lean Portland* The Rebuilding Center* Read full show notes | Subscribe or rate this podcast

Promotions

In this podcast, I talk with Lauren Neder, Industrial Engineer and lean consultant working with nonprofit organizations as a consultant and volunteer. She shares her experience working with a nonprofit in Haiti (in person and virtually), and how she is learning how to approach nonprofit organizations with process improvement.

We discuss:

* how she transitioned from manufacturing to nonprofit work* how she supported a nonprofit in Haiti called Imagine Missions * what struggles and challenges she has encountered with volunteering * why you shouldn’t overpromise on what you can help them with * some of the improvements she’s been involved with * and tips for how to approach a nonprofit to offer your help

If you enjoy this podcast, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. Any ratings you could give us, or shares across social media would be greatly appreciated!

You can watch the full video of the interview here…

Links

* Email: [email protected]* Lauren Neder – LinkedIn* ISE Magazine article about her time in Haiti* Imagine Missions – Haiti nonprofit

* Read full show notes | Subscribe or rate this podcast

Promotions

* FREE online course called “Lean Six Sigma and the Environment”* OpEx Six Sigma Online Training and Certification* Creative Safety Supply – Free 5S Guide

Have you ordered the new book, “Lean Six Sigma for Good: Lessons from the Gemba (Volume 1)?” The book is made up of 8 chapters written about experiences from Lean and Six Sigma practitioners, to give you tips and tricks to help you work with nonprofits in your area. All proceeds donated to charity. We are also close to releasing Volume 2, so check back for the latest news.

Transcript

In this podcast, I talk with Brad Jeavons, lean and Agile consultant with SA Partners. He is the host of the Enterprise Enterprise podcast. An episode we did together for his podcast will be released soon.

Brad and I got along great, as we have similar passions around sustainability, the environment and social issues.

During our hour-long talk, he explains:

* what he really liked about the Toyota Production System (TPS) when he first learned about it* how he decided to write the book “Agile Sales”* why it’s important to stop “overcooking” people’s time* the importance of leaders showing by example* how to keep employees motivated to improve

If you enjoy this podcast, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. Any ratings you could give us, or shares across social media would be greatly appreciated!

You can watch the full video of the interview here…

Links

* Enterprise Excellence Podcast – Get free downloads here* Brad Jeavons – Linkedin * BradJeavons.com* Agile Sales book* Queensland University of Technology* Toyota San Antonio Layoffs article* Agile Manifesto* Lean Impact (part of Lean Startup)* Large scale scrum planning* EduScrum* Scaled Scrum (Scrum at Scale)

* Read full show notes | Subscribe or rate this podcast

Promotions

* FREE online course called “Lean Six Sigma and the Environment”* OpEx Six Sigma Online Training and Certification*

In this podcast, I facilitated a webinar on engaging employees to gather innovation and improvement ideas with two agencies within the State of Colorado. The event was hosted by the Colorado Lean Network.

You will first hear from Corey Niemeyer from the Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS) about their IDEA center, which stands for Innovation Driven by Employee Action.

Then you will hear from Gary Vansuch from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) about their Lean Everyday Ideas program. Their program is well established and has won multiple awards over the years.

If you enjoy this podcast, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. Any ratings you could give us, or shares across social media would be greatly appreciated!

You can watch the full video of the webinar here…

Links

* Colorado Department of Transportation – Lean Everyday ideas* Colorado Department of Public Safety – IDEA Center* Colorado Lean Network

LinkedIn Profiles

* Gary Vansuch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvansuch/ * Corey Niemeyer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-niemeyer-9b3426113/* Brion Hurley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brion-hurley-432192/

* Read full show notes | Subscribe or rate this podcast

Promotions

* FREE online course called “Lean Six Sigma and the Environment”* OpEx Six Sigma Online Training and Certification* Creative Safety Supply – Free 5S Guide

Have you ordered the new book, “Lean Six Sigma for Good: Lessons from the Gemba (Volume 1)?” The book is made up of 8 chapters written about experiences from Lean and Six Sigma practitioners, to give you tips and tricks to help you work with nonprofits in your area. All proceeds donated to charity.